Equipment Accessories : Humidifiers

Few places on the earth are drier than the Sahara Desert, unfortunately, during the winter the typical home is one of those places. The typical home has a relative humidity level of 15% during the winter, while the Sahara Desert averages 25% humidity. Maintaining a relative humidity level of 35% to 50% provide relief from most of the problems experienced in the home.

Turning up the thermostat in the winter makes the warm air in your home into a giant sponge that soaks up moisture from everything it touches. Problems caused by low levels of humidity in the home include:

• Your home begins to come apart at the seams. Hardwood floors separate at the seams while drawers loosen, banisters begin to wobble, and doors don't close properly. Furniture and collectables shrink while gaps appear in molding and around wooden window frames.
• Musical instruments made from wood begin to lose their tone as drying wood causes them to shrink and crack. Companies that manufacture pianos, guitars and other wooden musical instruments recommend the use of humidifiers. The added humidity in the home not only preserves the beautiful wood finish, it can reduce the need for frequent tuning.
• Dry air aggravates upper respiratory problems. Itchy skin, dry throat, coughs, and cracked nasal membranes are all consequences of dry air. Cracked nasal passages increase your risk of infection by bacteria and upper respiratory viruses. Many doctors recommend humidifiers to allergy and asthma sufferers as a way to relieve their symptoms.
• Another way to remove items causing problems for allergy suffers is to clean the air in your air ducts. For more information on air duct cleaning provided by Griffith Energy Services, Inc., click on the following link DUCT CLEANING and find out how this service may help your family.
• You feel colder, even with the thermostat turned up. Dry air makes you feel colder than the actual thermostat setting because the evaporating moisture on your skin causes a cooling effect. A humidifier can help lower heating bills because humidified air feels warmer. For example, a 69 degree temperature at 35% humidity fells just as warm as a 72 degree setting at 19% humidity. Setting your thermostat back 3 degrees can reduce annual heating bills by as much as 5%.
• Static shock will "zap" you and your sensitive equipment. How many times have you shuffled across the carpet only to be rudely surprised by the crackle of static as you reach for the light switch? It's no fun when it happens to you, and even less when you reach out and "zap" a loved one. With the capacity to hold a static charge of 20,000 volts, your body can also wreak havoc on home computers and other sensitive electronic devices. By maintaining indoor relative humidity at 35% or higher, static electricity shocks are greatly reduced.

Warm air furnaces equipped with a humidifier work using a reservoir (an internal float maintains the proper water level) while a drum rotates to evenly saturate the humidifier pad. As thirsty, dry air moves across the wet pad, some of the water evaporates and is distributed throughout your home in safe vapor form. This vapor is carried to all rooms using your ductwork that provides heat to all your rooms.

Aprilaire makes units installed by Griffith Energy Services, Inc. Homes heated with warm air furnaces should consider the model 700. We have included a photo and basic information on this unit.

The Model 700 power humidifier features truly automatic control, so there's no need to ever manually control the humidifier. It is also designed with ease of service in mind. Complementing any HVAC system, the 700 has an evaporation capacity of 0.75 gallons per hour, among the highest capacity humidifiers we sell.

On occasion, homeowners with baseboard or radiators have asked about humidifiers for their homes. Aprilaire also makes a unit (model 350) for this application. We have included a photo and basic information on this unit for your information.

The Model 350 Aprilaire humidifier is a completely self-contained unit designed especially for installations in homes with radiators or baseboard heaters. Equally suited for other types of heat, it is sized to fit closets, heated crawl spaces, and basements.